Cannabis, Cigarettes, and Psychosis

[Jackeh]

Sorry if this is the wrong place but it was the most appropriate I could think for the question.

http://schizophrenia.com/smokereport.htm#over

I've read on this forum and some other sites that people with schizophrenia are far more likely to smoke cigarettes.

As the source above suggests, people with schizophrenia have "faulty sensory gating" which is apparently caused by a faulty nicotine receptor gene.

The first is faulty sensory "gating," the ability to make sense of stimuli in the environment. People startle the first time they hear a loud noise such as a car alarm - but they're able to ignore it, or at least mute their reaction, when they hear it again and again.

Schizophrenics lack this "gating" capacity, which may explain some of the confusion and fear they feel in seemingly harmless situations.

As it turns out, the deficit is associated with a faulty gene that also happens to be a nicotine receptor gene. "When schizophrenia patients smoke, or are given nicotine gum, this deficit of sensory gating is reduced or normalized," Thaker said.

For some people (including me) cannabis may be anxiolytic. Now, I myself find that smoking cigarettes during these anxious phases will usually calm me down in the same way smoking cigarettes apparently helps people with schizophrenia.

I'm not saying that cannabis causes psychosis, I have read and accept that it may release underlying mental conditions but it won't create them itself. Is it possible that cannabis affects nicotine receptors in the same way that they might be different for people with schizophrenia, which is why smoking would calm paranoia/anxiety down when high? Or is there no actual link there and the anxiolytic effects are through a different mechanism?

 

[endotropic]

Sorry if this is the wrong place but it was the most appropriate I could think for the question.

http://schizophrenia.com/smokereport.htm#over

I've read on this forum and some other sites that people with schizophrenia are far more likely to smoke cigarettes.

As the source above suggests, people with schizophrenia have "faulty sensory gating" which is apparently caused by a faulty nicotine receptor gene.



For some people (including me) cannabis may be anxiolytic. Now, I myself find that smoking cigarettes during these anxious phases will usually calm me down in the same way smoking cigarettes apparently helps people with schizophrenia.

I'm not saying that cannabis causes psychosis, I have read and accept that it may release underlying mental conditions but it won't create them itself. Is it possible that cannabis affects nicotine receptors in the same way that they might be different for people with schizophrenia, which is why smoking would calm paranoia/anxiety down when high? Or is there no actual link there and the anxiolytic effects are through a different mechanism?

First off, I think you mean to say that you find cannabis anxiogenic, not anxiolytic.

To your main question, it's very possible that cannabis activates the same nicotinic receptors, but I'm having trouble finding the reference for the study mentioned in that report. If I knew exactly what gene they were discussing I might be able to answer your question better.

 

[Jackeh]

Yeah, I meant anxiogenic. At first I was sure, but then I did one of those online dictionary checks and it came up that anxiolytic is the one that causes anxiety, even though I'm sure I've seen benzos touted as anxiolytic.

I tried looking and this is as much detail as I could get:

Another suggestion is that patients smoke as a form of self-medication with nicotine, which may help regulate a dysfunctional mesolimbic dopamine system. It may increase dopamine release in the pre-frontal cortex and alleviate positive and negative symptoms

http://apt.rcpsych.org/content/6/5/327.full

 

[sekio]

Is it possible that cannabis affects nicotine receptors in the same way that they might be different for people with schizophrenia, which is why smoking would calm paranoia/anxiety down when high? Or is there no actual link there and the anxiolytic effects are through a different mechanism?

I think it's an unrelated mechanism; cannabis and its component chemicals aren't notable as nicotinic receptor ligands. And more importantly, CB1 agonists causing anxiety is well-documented by now.

 

[arctica]

Weed is such a complex plant that it probably causes anxiety/paranoia by three different mechanisms and alleviates it by three more.

They now sell these at the local shop, including your choice of THC, THC-A, CBN, or CBD 1:1 Full Plant Extraction. Welcome to the future.

 

[arctica]

Is smoking really that much more common among schizophrenics than among other mentally ill people, or current/recovering addicts? What is it they say, there was a smoking convention, and an AA meeting broke out? While not a (tobacco) smoker personally, I have spent enough time on psych wards to tell you that cigarettes, especially on wards that prohibit them, are worth more than life itself.

 

[Roger&Me]

Is smoking really that much more common among schizophrenics than among other mentally ill people, or current/recovering addicts?

yes. i remember MyDoorsAreOpen (a practicing physician) commented in another thread that he doubts a schizophrenia diagnosis is correct in any patient that doesn't smoke or have a history of smoking. smoking / tobacco use is something that almost every schizophrenic person does.

 

[haflerhecker]

I know it's only anecdotal, but I spent a few months on a psych ward with a large proportion of schizophrenics (myself included) and out of around 40 patients every single one was a smoker, without exception.

 

[lovegluegunnin]

I'm bipolar-schizophrenic and I'm a smoker. I find that when I don't have cigarettes, and I'm under a lot of stress, it's a lot worse than if I was having a hard time and did have cigarettes. So, I understand that part. Also, when I used to smoke marijuana heavy (I still do, but no where near as often and not as much) If I had to go without it, my psychotic symptoms as well as my other symptoms would become more prominent. This may be because I was smoking it on top of taking my prescribed medications for my condition, though. Prior to that, my physician told me that cannabis can block the receptors in my brain where the medicine needs to go to work for the lack of a better explanation. So, there could be many reasons why people find that marijuana can cause mental health issues to arise.

 

[arctica]

Even as a non-smoker, it irritates me that so many psych wards prohibit smoking. I would bet that the day you land on a psych ward is probably rates among the top 3 worst days of your entire life...and they want you to switch to decaf and a nicotine patch on that day? Are these guys for real? I would always go out with the smokers on breaks just to get outside and breathe some semi-fresh air for 10 minutes. I get that open flame is a safety concern for people who self-harm, but in my experience, people can/will do way more damage with a plastic knife smuggled off their lunch tray than with a cigarette, knowing that doing so would not only revoke their cig privileges, but possibly everyone else's as well.